Case Number 06612: Small Claims Court

Fidel Castro

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All Rise...

Judge Adam Arseneau once ate breakfast 300 yards from 4,000 Cubans who were trained to kill him, and lived to review this documentary.

The Charge

"We never thought the sun would stop shining…and it did."

The Case

The story of Fidel Castro is the story of Cuba, both socially and politically
over the last fifty years, a "for better or worse" back-and-forth
ping-pong match of managing local social affairs on the island and influencing
world politics on a global scale. Fidel Castro, the documentary, does a
decent job during its two-hour running time of covering the salient points of
Castro's rise to power during the hectic and chaotic social uprising of the
1940s and '50s, his idealistic democratic vision of Cuba, his breakaway from
American imperialism, his gradual turn towards socialist views and allegiances
with the Soviet Union, and the economic sanctions and growing military hostility
coming from the United States as a result. The documentary also touches on
Castro's obsession with fueling revolutionary movements all across the planet,
Cuba's rise to power in the league of non-aligned nations, and its loss of the
same power after its refusal to denounce the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the
mass exodus of Cubans to Miami in the '80s, and the fall of the Soviet Union and
the near-fatal debilitation of Cuban life that followed. During this tumultuous
40-year history of Cuban events, the economy bounced around like a child playing
with a tennis ball indoors, occasionally knocking over a vase or smashing a
lamp.

Being an American documentary, Fidel Castro takes the inevitable
stance that the majority of Cuba's social, political, and economic problems
stemmed—either directly or indirectly—from Cuba's consistent
bird-flipping towards the United States in order to gain favor throughout the
revolutionary world. To debate the finer points of Cuba's history seems silly in
this forum, and I hardly consider myself an expert, so I make this observation
based on the merits of the documentary itself. All in all, Fidel Castro
is an even-handed and balanced view of the man, the country, and the
socio-political environment that gave birth to his infamous rise to power, but
the "See what happens when you piss off America?" attitude creeps in
now and again. It cannot be helped. Though Cuba's history is extraordinarily
complex and tied into the interests of numerous nations, American filmmakers
bankrolled by American PBS donations cannot help but create a certain kind of
film, one that views Castro's life and his achievements through his consistent,
bewildering, and tenacious defiance of the United States. I do not suggest that
this is an inaccurate view, but it is arguably a myopic one.

Overall, this documentary is quite professional in pacing and tone, covering
most of the important facts, but even for a two-hour documentary it feels far
too short. The documentary occasionally lingers on subjects of American
interest, like Che Guevara or the Bay of Pigs invasion, and then glazes over a
good solid ten years in Cuban social and political life in order to catch up.
Forty years of a country's history is simply too great a story to tell in two
short hours, but the film tries its darnedest to cover it all.

Ultimately, the film ends on a sour note, on that of a failed revolution,
nothing more than a pale mockery of the glorious and promised paradise, which is
hard to dispute. Castro, once filled with vibrancy and idealism is left faded,
weak, and unimportant, the ending of the Cold War removing whatever political
clout his island nation once possessed. The documentary seems to suggest that
history has moved on without Castro, and yet he doggedly holds onto the reigns
of his horse, having abandoned his dreams of a glorious victory in favor of a
stubborn determination to finish, even if dead last. No doubt a Russian-financed
documentary on Fidel Castro would have a very different story to tell (heck,
even a Canadian one would), but I get sidetracked.

Video and audio quality is quite excellent for a documentary. The transfer
is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, which is a pleasant surprise given
the full-screen fiesta normally forced down the throat of documentary DVD
watchers. It looks great too, with a clean picture and decent detail and black
levels. This varies depending on the quality of the stock film and archive
material presented, obviously, but even the film's worst moments are better than
most documentaries. The audio, a Dolby Digital 2.0 track is completely
serviceable, well-balanced and with clean dialogue.

Fidel Castro is a decent documentary on the man and his ambitious
empire, and balances itself rather well despite the occasional (but unavoidable)
drop of pro-Americanism now and again. The film gives equal and due credit to
Castro's social reforms, educational policies, and health care initiatives while
simultaneously lambasting his total crushing grip on the free press and voices
of opposition, his human rights violations, and all the other jerky things
Castro did over the last 40 years (with which you could probably fill three or
four documentaries).

Though not perfect, this is as fine a balanced and informative documentary
that you are likely to find on the subject. If you are at all curious about the
man, or Cuban history, or looking for something else to rent after finding Buena Vista Social Club checked out of the
video store, then Fidel Castro would be an excellent stamp on your
passport.